Nominations for Outstanding Motion Picture of the Year include Are We There Yet?, Coach Carter, Crash, Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Hustle & Flow

Jeff Friday and Suzanne de Passe to Executive-Produce Event Airing October 19

Complete List of Nominations Attached

A distinguished list of high-profile talent will be on hand for Film Life�s 2005 BLACK MOVIE AWARDS � A Celebration of Black Cinema: Past, Present & Future, presented by Turner Network Television (TNT). Cedric �The Entertainer� (Madagascar) will host the gala awards show that recognizes creative achievement by persons of African descent in feature-length motion pictures, both in front of and behind the camera, and honors outstanding films portraying the Black experience. This year�s top award nominees include Crash, and Diary of a Mad Black Woman, each of which received six nominations, Hustle & Flow; which received four; and Coach Carter, with three nominations.

Film Life�s 2005 BLACK MOVIE AWARDS, executive produced by Jeff Friday, CEO of Film Life, Inc., and Suzanne de Passe, CEO of de Passe Entertainment, will premiere Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), exclusively on TNT.

Legendary actor/director/producer Sidney Poitier will receive the Distinguished Career Achievement Award, recognizing his trailblazing work as actor/writer/director for such films as Lilies of the Field, In the Heat of the Night, Stir Crazy, For Love of Ivy and Guess Who�s Coming to Dinner. And Kimberly Elise, a nominee for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for Diary of a Mad Black Woman, will receive the Rising Star award.

The 1985 adaptation of Alice Walker�s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple will become the first film inducted into the Black Movie Awards Classic Cinema Hall of Fame. Producer Quincy Jones is the first member of the creative team to confirm his appearance on the program.

In addition to serving as host, Cedric �The Entertainer� is also a nominee for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his work in The Honeymooners. Also nominated in that category are Don Cheadle (Crash), Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow), Samuel L. Jackson (Coach Carter) and Will Smith (Hitch). Nominees for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role include Kimberly Elise (Diary of a Mad Black Woman), Meagan Good (D.E.B.S) and Queen Latifah (Beauty Shop).

The 2005 BLACK MOVIE AWARDS will be taped at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, Oct. 9. A prominent committee of film critics, entertainment editors and prestigious members of the artistic committee choose nominees and recipients of the awards from a list of eligible films released in the U.S. between January 1 and July 31, 2005.

Press credentials for the 2005 BLACK MOVIE AWARDS can be obtained through the following link: http://www.turner.com/press/2005_BMA_Credential_Form.doc.

Cedric �The Entertainer� is best known for his crowd-pleasing roles in such films as The Honeymooners, Madagascar, Johnson Family Vacation, Barbershop, Intolerable Cruelty, The Original Kings of Comedy and Be Cool. His other big-screen credits include Lemony Snicket�s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Man of the House and Big Momma�s House. He lent his voice to Dr. Dolittle 2 and Ice Age and is currently working on The Cleaner with Lucy Liu and Mr. Lucky with Bruce Willis.

His award-winning career spans television, live performances and film. Among Cedric�s many accolades are the AFTRA Award of Excellence in Television Programming for his series �Cedric �The Entertainer� Presents� and a record-setting four consecutive NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for The Steve Harvey Show. In 1994, he received the Richard Pryor Comic of the Year Award from BET for his work as host of Def Comedy Jam and BET�s Comic View. Now helming his own production company, A Bird and A Bear Entertainment, Cedric develops and produces feature films. Johnson Family Vacation was the first under the company�s banner, which grossed over $30 million. The name �Cedric� is fast joining the ranks of other one-name celebrities as an iconic symbol of high caliber performance.

Since 1997, Jeff Friday, founder of the Black Movie Awards and the American Black Film Festival, has made a name in the film industry by providing opportunities for independent Black filmmakers to showcase their work to an ever-broadening audience through the Acapulco Black Film Festival, which relocated to Miami and expanded to become the American Black Film Festival in 2002. The Festival will celebrate its 10-year anniversary in 2006 as it continues to spearhead the global distribution of quality Black films as the leading American brand marketing and distributing Black movies and related entertainment content.

Oscar nominee Suzanne de Passe�s long list of award-winning, high-profile shows and specials includes the Emmy�-winning Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever and Motown Returns to the Apollo. Additionally, she executive-produced The Essence Awards in 2002 and 2003, as well as the annual NAACP Image Awards over a three-year period, concluding in 2003. She has also executive-produced such memorable television miniseries as Lonesome Dove, The Jacksons: An American Dream, Buffalo Girls, Small Sacrifices and The Temptations. Her Academy Award nomination came for co-writing the screenplay for Lady Sings the Blues.

Turner Network Television (TNT), television�s destination for drama and one of cable�s top-rated networks, offers original movies and series, including Into the West, an epic six-week television event from DreamWorks Television and master storyteller and executive producer Steven Spielberg; the detective drama series The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick, and the action-packed crime series Wanted, with Gary Cole; powerful one-hour dramas, such as Law & Order, Without a Trace, ER, NYPD Blue, Charmed, Judging Amy and Angel, with Alias and Las Vegas joining the line-up in September and Cold Case coming in October; broadcast premiere movies; and championship sports coverage, including NASCAR and the NBA. TNT is also available in high-definition.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, is a major producer of news and entertainment product around the world and a leading provider of programming for the television industry.